Nationwide Tour: 5 Grads with the Best Chance to Win in 2012

Every year since its inception, the Nationwide Tour has been played with the aim of graduating 25 golfers to the PGA Tour.

Each year, a few of those golfers experience immediate success on tour, although some who finish outside of the top 125 are once again relegated back to the Nationwide Tour.

Let's take a look at the graduates that I think have the best shots at success. 

No. 5: J.J. Killeen

Killeen is the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour in 2011 with $414,273. 

He has hoisted a trophy twice, winning back-to-back titles at the Utah Championship and the Cox Classic. 

Killeen ranked first on tour in putting, with an average of 1.703 putts per hole, and 20th in driving distance, belting an average of 304.5 yards. 

Killeen has the lethal combination of power and putting, giving him an automatic shot at winning his first PGA Tour title in 2012. 

No. 4: Ted Potter, Jr.

Ted Potter, Jr. enjoyed success for the first time on the Nationwide Tour in 2011, racking up two victories and six top 10s. Prior to 2011, Potter had only made six cuts in the two previous years. 

While Potter isn't one of the longer golfers on tour, he is definitely one of the most accurate, ranking sixth on tour. 

His putting is also excellent, as he averaged 1.745 putts per hole, and he had the second-best scoring average (69.02).

I like Potter's ball striking most of all, and that is the reason that he sits on this list.

No. 3: Mathew Goggin

Goggin is the only golfer listed to have enjoyed success at the highest level. 

He has racked up more than $7 million in prize money and narrowly missed winning with two second-place finishes.

Goggin won twice on the Nationwide Tour in 2011 and ranked fifth in GIR, 15th in ball striking and 12th in scrambling. 

Goggin's past success leads me to believe that he will one day find the winner's circle. Whether that will come next year remains to be seen. 

No. 2: Jason Kokrak

Jason Kokrak is scary long. Averaging 318 yards per drive, he is easily one of the longest professional golfers on the planet. 

Kokrak won two events in 2011, including the season-ending Albertsons Boise Open. 

Kokrak ranked third in scoring average (69.13). 

What impresses more than anything, however, is his ball striking (he finished eighth on tour).

I truly believe Kokrak will see immediate success on tour, and he could be a staple for years to come. 

No. 1: Danny Lee

Spoiler alert: I fully expect to see Danny Lee with a trophy by this time next year. 

Ever since he was a small child, he has been regarded as a future superstar, and several years ago he was in the same talks with Rory, Ryo and Manassero.

He hit a rough patch a couple of years ago, and that is why he found himself on the Nationwide Tour this year. 

He won one event in 2011, but he had second- and third-place finishes and nine top 10s. 

He led the tour in scoring average (68.98), and his putting has always been superb. 

The stat that jumps of the page to me, is his bounce-back percentage of over 30 percent this year. That is one of the most important stats in professional golf, and a few years ago he had one of the worst bounce-back percentages on the PGA Tour.